I was born May 2, 1958 in the Bronx, New York City. I attended
PS 70 (1963-1970), JHS. 117 (1970-1972), and the Bronx
High School of Science (1972-1975).

I am proud of my Kazan Tatar ancestry. In case you were
wondering, my father was Tatar from the
village of Mitro-Ayup near Chakmagush in
Bashqortostan. My mother was (Mishar) Tatar
-- her family was originally from the village of Nagur near Penza
-- but she was born in Blagoveshchensk
and grew up in China. I have one brother.
(I'm proud of him, but he doesn't know that.)

I taught as a lecturer (1983-1986) and assistant professor
(1986-1989) in the Department of Uralic & Altaic Studies (now
the Department of Central Eurasian Studies) at Indiana University-Bloomington.
Then I received an invitation to help develop a program in Central
Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I joined
the Department of Slavic Languages at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison, where I was an assistant professor (1989-1993)
and associate professor (1993-1998). Beginning in 1996 I helped
to develop the new Department of
Languages and Cultures of Asia, where I have been an associate
professor (1998-2000) and professor (2000- ). I like the colleagues
in my new department a lot. I have been chair of the Central Asian
Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since Fall
2002. I have also been associate director of the Center for Middle
East Studies since Spring 2005.

I teach Central Asian Turkic
languages, cultures, linguistics, and history. My students sometimes
ask me what languages I speak. I am usually too embarrassed to
respond, but perhaps it is easier to explain it here. From among
Turkic languages I can comfortably speak and teach Kazan Tatar
(native), Republican Turkish, Uzbek, and Kazak. I can also converse
with speakers of Azeri, Bashqort, Karachay, Kyrgyz, Türkmen,
Uygur & other modern Standard Turkic languages, but I cannot
respond correctly in their own languages (which are more like
dialects). I also have a research knowledge of Chuvash; Tuvan,
Yakut and other Siberian Turkic languages; and Old and Middle
Turkic languages. (I have taught all of them.)

I also speak French, German, Russian, Hungarian, Arabic
(Syrian dialect), and Italian. I have a good research knowledge
of classical and modern Arabic and Persian, and a lesser knowledge
of Chinese, Polish, Classical Mongolian, Manchu, Spanish, and
other languages.

The image below is the "State Coat of Arms of the Republic
of Tatarstan". For more on this see www.kcn.ru/tat_en/tatarstan/gerb.htm.
(I have "borrowed" the background from that site, too!)